How do you override a 940 in QBO

Of course, we have the option to correct your 940, @bvstone.

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), you can't directly override forms like you could in QuickBooks Desktop. We can make adjustments or process a correction instead to the underlying transactions to ensure the 940 form is correct.

Thus, I recommend contacting our payroll support for assistance in correcting the said form. Our representatives can review the wage and all associated tax information to ensure the form is populated accurately. Check out the following steps below to connect with us:

1. Open your QBO account.
2. Go to the Help (?) menu.
3. Click Contact Us.
4. You can enter "Override a 940" and click Continue.
5. Choose a way to connect with us:
   • Start a chat
   • Get a callback from the next available expert

Here are some resources you can read and access to get more insights into how QuickBooks supports federal forms like 940 and the way to submit them:

• Instructions for Form 940
• Understand federal forms and tax payments for 941, 944, 943, and 940
• Pay and file payroll taxes and forms electronically 

Please don't hesitate to add comments below if you have any other concerns or questions about payroll forms. I'm always glad to help in any way I can, @bvstone.

RE: Line 4 should be blank and line 5 should contain the wages more than $7000 resulting in a $420 payment I make every year.

Those lines should automatically calculate correctly. The only time the wouldn't, that I can think of, is if - when the employee met the tax limit - the tax item was removed from the employee and also future paychecks.

Well, I just met with my Tax Accountant and showed her the 940 QBO generated.

She said not only are the two lines wrong, but so was the total.  It looks like it also added the  Employer match amount to the salary.    She said it should match the W3.  It doesn't.

She advised to just file it manually.  Sounds about right.

My tax accountant also noted that the total amount was incorrect as QBO also added the Employer Match for 401k to the total on line 3.  She noted if that doesn't match the W3 amount that will cause a red flag with the IRS.

So, fix it, Intuit.

All of those symptoms suggest that your payroll items and/or employee records are not set up correctly.

Any ideas where?  I know when I transferred from Desktop the 401k stuff got all messed up and QB support "fixed" it working with me online.  Not sure what they did.

There is only one employee.  Me.

It's set up with 401k catchup employer and employee contributions.  Doesn't get much more simple.

So no one can answer.  Just vagueness.  Thanks.  I'll just file my 940 manually unless I hear different from my Tax Accountant.

PS.. QB Desktop never put employer contributions to 401k in the total on the 940.  Maybe the programmers should get their heads together and figure it out.

Even if the total is correct, it's not calculated right since none of my wages are exempt from FUTA and as far as I can tell was marked that way from the get go and I should own $420 at the end of the year. 

as Big Red mentioned above, it sounds like a setup issue.  All lines will calculate correctly if all pay items and deduction items are setup properly.  QBO is just doing the math behind the scenes based on the directions it gets from each item's setup.  If the setup is wrong, so will the computation.  

As a general rule of thumb, it is EXTREMELY rare that you need to override a tax form in QBO or even desktop. 99.9999 times out of 100 it is due to incorrect setup.  I'm in public accounting and do file forms for hundreds of clients and this is almost always the case.  I can think of maybe 5 times in the last 20 years that it was something else.

it sounds like your accountant needs to deep dive into the item setup and assist there.  Since none of us can see the specifics on how each of your pay/deduction items are setup, we cannot pinpoint the issue.  if you would like to grant me access to your QBO file, I'm happy to make the corrections to the setup for you.

@bvstone  RE: Any ideas where?

Yes, as mentioned the setup errors will be on the payroll items or employee records.

For example, if you have earnings additions that are not subject to FUTA (probably wrong) that would cause wages to show up in on the wrong row, as you suggest. Or, if the employee was not marked subject to FUTA, that would also cause it.

If all wages are subject to FUTA, and there are no pretax deductions that reduce FUTA, nothing will appear in box 4, Payments exempt from FUTA tax.

Instead, all excess wages, wages after the FUTA $7,000 wage base limit is hit, will appear on box 5, aptly named Total of payments made to each employee in excess of $7,000.

If you are the only employee and you made more than $7,000 in compensation, and nothing appears in box 5, then your payroll items and/or employee record is likely not set up correctly. I can't think of another cause.

FUTA exemption is NOT checked in my employee setup.

Still would be nice to just override it.  But in this case if I can't get help doing that then I will just have them remove it from 2023 forms and mail it in manually.

I have had problems with (3) clients that opt out of SUI requiring them to pay a higher rate in FUTA. QBO is of no help when it comes to this situation. I could override these numbers in QB Desktop but have to file the 940 manually when using QBO. Its frustrating. They need to fix this. 

PLUS I have huge problems when trying to pay the correct amount in QBO

Hello HCoKP,

Let's assume you are correct, and 99.99% of the tax calculations in QBO are correct. If that is the case, why is it nearly impossible to contact a support person who can track the set-up error and fix it? Four people, including a so-called escalation team member, have assured me that they will fix my 940 error within 20–30 days, but four months have passed with no fix or contact. When I call to follow up, they start me in square one with a person who has zero knowledge, access, or ability to solve the issue. For example, QBO indicates a past-due payment of $218.35 for my 940 2023 return, whereas the 940 report indicates a credit of $159.65. If I click on the pay link, QBO changes the amount due to $378, but I cannot pay either amount, and I get a message stating "no taxes due this period." This is a common occurrence for me. Another example is the rounding errors that do not agree with the tax authority. Should I tell the tax authorities that their calculations are wrong? The amounts entered match, but the amount due can be off by a few cents. If I attempt to enter a payment adjustment, my tax report for the next quarter will be off. This has been a frustrating experience for several years and is the number one reason I do not recommend using QBOL for payroll. Did I mention that QBOL kept my tax payment meant for the employment security department and refused to acknowledge they had our funds? Five months later, the exact amount of money mysteriously reappeared in our bank account. There was no response to my inquiry from QBOL whatsoever. I'm sorry to sound so grumpy, but telling this group chat that QB is not the problem is not helpful.